Occurrence of normal tension glaucoma in Peshawar and contiguous areas

Objective: to investigate the prevalence of normal tension glaucoma (ntg) in peshawar and its neighboring areas,and to attempt to create understanding among the common people in general and the eyecare personnel in particular about the disease. material and methods: the study was accomplished at the department of physiology,khyber medical college,(kmc),peshawar,in association with the department of ophthalmology,khyber teaching hospital (kth),peshawar,for a period of six months. patients of both sexes (age 35-65),who attended the outpatients department with normal iop,open drainage angle,cupped discs and/or loss of neural rim,visual field defects consistent with glaucomatous damage and apparently no other secondary cause for glaucomatous neuropathy,were included in the study. modern sophisticated tools and techniques were used to diagnose normal tension glaucoma (ntg). results: a total of 394 patients were screened during a period of six months whereby 100 patients (mean age 51.21±8.12 years) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. it was a set strategy that the study would come to its end when a count of 100 patients would reach at. the male patients were 33(8.4%) and the female patients were 67(17%) of the total patients screened for the purpose. the iop in both eyes of female patients was higher than those of male patients and in both cases the difference (by comparing the corresponding iop of females with males) was statistically significant (p<0.05). conclusion: we conclude that 25.4% of the subjects (age 35-65,mean age 51.21±8.12 years) of the study were suffering from ntg among whom 8.4% were males and 17% were females. © 2015,khyber medical college. all rights reserved.